Panel board



Nov. 3, 1936. w. H. FRANK ET AL PANEL BOARD Original Filed July 18, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ODDOODDO ODD oUDooDD oDD & &

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Nov. 3, 1936. w. H. FRANK ET AL PANEL BOARD Original Filed July 18, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS M/("MQJ I144/ BY fl f mm lo TTORNEY.

-Nov. 3 1936 w. H. FRANK ET AL PANEL BOARD Original Filed July 18, 1934 5 SheetsSheet 3 Patented Nov. 3, 1936 UNI-TED STATES PATENT OFFICE PANEL BOARD Mich, a corporation of West Virginia Original application July 18, 193 1, Serial No.

735,744. 1935, Serial No. 27,02

6 Claims.

This application relates to a panel board made up of units in which branch circuit control switches are combined with fuses forming protective devices for these circuits.

5 Panel boards of this general character are well known in the art. In each known case, however, the fuses of the units are of the conventional plug or cartridge fuse type requiring replacement of fuses whenever a fuse blows. In the panel board of the present invention the fuse means are of the multiple fuse renewable type shown in Patent No. 2,000,016, May '7, 1935; consequently, whenever a fuse blows fuse renewal can be accomplished quickly, easily, and inexpensively with no disturbance to any unit except the one whose fuse is being renewed; after all the fuses of a unit have been used in renewal, the multiple fuse carrier is discarded and is replaced by a fresh carrier of the multiple fuse renewal type, and such replacement may be effected in a unit without disturbing any other unit. Inasmuch as the units of a panel preferably should have diverse protection characteristics, means are provided whereby the units, though generally similar and constructed to receive a standard multiple fuse carrier, are intially constructed to combine that carrier with a previously effected arrangement of contact parts in such a way that diverse protection characteristics will be attained even though the carriers themselves are identical. For example, of a group of carriers having twelve 15 amp. fuses, one may be placed in a unit whose contacts have been previously arranged to interconnect the fuses of the carrier therein in a manner that will provide that unit with six 30 amp. fuses, each made up of two 15 amp. fuses in parallel; a second unit may have its contacts previously arranged to provide the unit with four 45 amp. fuses, each made up of three 15 amp. fuses in parallel; and a third unit may have its contacts previously arranged to provide that unit with three 60 amp. fuses, each made up of four 15 amp. fuses in parallel; a fourth unit may have its contacts previously arranged to provide that unit with six pairs of seriesconnected fuses providing a double break in each fused line; a fifth unit may have its contacts previously arranged to cooperate with fuses of more than one carrier to provide paralleling of fuses of different carriers; and a sixth unit may have its contacts previously arranged to provide the unit with twelve 15 amp. fuses.

Thus, a user whose panel is properly designed and installed, with the contacts of the various units thereof previously arranged in accordance Divided and this application June 17,

with the desired protection characteristics of the units and the branch circuits supplied thereby, may buy standard twelve fuse 15 amp. fuse carriers, and use them indiscriminately in the units of his panel, with the assurance that the fuses of these carriers will be properly connected through the previously arranged contacts of the units for properly servicing the branch circuits. The user need exercise no discrimination in the selection of the carriers, for any standard carrier when placed in a unit having the contacts thereof properly arranged at the time of installation will properly service the branch circuit contolled by the unit in question.

The provision of such means distinguishes the units here shown from those of application Serial No. 735,744, filed July 18, 1934, of which this application is a division, and forms the principal object of the invention of this application.

For an understanding of the disclosure of this application, reference should be had to the ap pended drawings and to the descriptive matter which follows. In these drawings,

Fig. 1 is a front view of a sectional panel board whose sections are mounted over bus bars and are made up of units for servicing branch circuits;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front view of a single section made up of four units;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of a section of four units with a cover for one of the units being shown in open position for fuse carrier replacement;

Fig. 4 is an interior View of a unit on section lines 4-4, Fig. 2;

Figs. 5-16, in pairs, show different arrangements of contacts providing different protection characteristics for the fused line, the fusing means in each case being a standard fuse carr1er.

Referring to Figs. 1-4 of the drawings, it will be seen that each panel section 8 there shown is divided to provide four separate units whereby the supply bus bars It) may be connected to the four branch leads H serviced and controlled by the four units shown. The arrangement indicated provides for each lead, between a bus bar l0 and that lead, a switching mechanism and fuse protective device. On the front of each section is a supporting plate I2 which is fastened to the central rigid structure l3 (Fig. 4) therebeneath by means of screws l4. On the side edges of the plate l2 are hinges l5 which mount covers 16, each in turn supporting an assembly of a switch S and a fuse carrier in the form of a wheel II; the hinges allow the covers to be closed or opened so that the fuse wheels Il may be concealed or exposed for fuse wheel replacement.

The fuse wheel itself forms the basis of Patent No. 2,000,016 and is there described in detail. For the purposes of this case it is sufficient to say that the fuse wheel may be considered as a flat, centrally apertured disk having on its opposite sides spaced bosses on which lie terminals 18 of metal fuses having their fusible portions within the wheel. The terminals of the fuses are engaged by stationary contacts ll-2i of the units to bridge them and complete the circuits through the units from. the bus bars It) to the branch leads El, and the diverse arrangements of these contacts provides diversification of the protection characteristics of the units, even though the fuse Wheels of all the units are identical.

Inasmuch as the details of construction of the :means for rotating the fuse wheel are of no importance here, these details forming part of the subject matter of the prior application, Serial No. 735,744, filed July 18, 193 these details will not be described at this time. Suffice it to say that when the cover is closed the handle 24 may be moved for normal switching and may be manipulated and moved for rotating the fuse wheel and effect fuse renewal by registering a fresh set of fuse terminals i3 with the stationary contacts Iii-28 which are bridged by the registered fuse of the wheel. Also suffice it to say that the fuse wheel II is removably mounted on an axle 35 journalled in the portions 36 carried by the cover It which permits removal of the wheel I! from the portions 36 when replacement of a wheel whose fuses are blown by a fresh wheel is desired.

The contact I!) is connected through an appropriate binding means to a terminal of branch load ll. Contact 20 is connected through the switch of the unit to a bus bar ill. The circuit between the bus bar l0 and the lead H is thus effected through the contacts Iii-20, and the fuse in registry with these contacts.

Now, when the arrangement of contacts [9-20 is as shown in Figs. 1-5, but one fuse will register with contacts [9-40 and connect the branch lead l l to the bus bar ID. With this arrangement, the amperage rating of the branch circuit unit is that of the fuses of the fuse carrier I1; and since in the construction shown, twelve fuses are provided on the fuse carrier I'I, there can be twelve renewals of fuses before replacement of a fuse carrier is made necessary.

Inasmuch as a panel may contain units whose amperage ratings are greater than the minimum rating, equal to the rating of one fuse of a standard fuse carrier, diverse arrangements of contacts may be provided in the various units whereby such diversification of amperage ratings may be attained even though a standard wheel is used in all units. For example, Figs. 7-8 show an arrangement of contacts l9-20 whereby instead of twelve renewals of 15 amp. fuses, there may be provided six renewals of 30 amp. fuses for properly servicing a 30 amp. unit. In this case the contacts l9 and 20 of the 30 amp. unit will be fabricated in such a manner that they will connect two fuses of the fuse carrier in parallel when a standard twelve fuse 15 amp. fuse carrier is mounted on the axle 35 supported between portions 36 carried by the cover of the unit.

Figs. 13-14 show an arrangement providing three renewals of 60 amp. fuses for properly servicing a 60 amp. unit, each 60 amp. fuse comprising four 15 amp. fuses connected in parallel by contacts Iii-40.

Figs. 15-16 show an arrangement providing four renewals of 45 amp. fuses for properly servicing a 45 amp. unit, each 45 amp. fuse comprising three 15 amp. fuses connected in parallel by contacts |9--20.

Figs. 9-10 show an arrangement whereby two carriers are utilized for each branch circuit, both carriers being positively interconnected so as to rotate simultaneously about their common axle 35. In this arrangement the interconnected contacts l9 engage the outside termini of registered fuses of the two carriers and interconnected contacts 20 engage the inside termini of the same fuses. In this way a fuse of each wheel is placed in parallel with a fuse of its neighbor with the result that the combination of two wheels, each having 15 amp. fuses, will properly service a 30 amp. circuit. However, due to the provision of twice the number of fuses, there will be twelve renewals possible, as contradistinguished from the construction of Figs. 6--7, where but renewals are possible. In this arrangement the carriers may be in one compartment or in separate compartments, as desired.

In Figs. 11-12 there is shown an arrangement wherein two fuses of each wheel are connected in series to provide a double break in each line for higher voltages. The contacts |9-20 engage diametrically opposed posterior termini l8, and the anterior termini of the same fuses are connected by a supplementary connector. This arrangement provides two fusible break points for each fuse line, and while not affecting the amperage rating of the unit having the illustrated arrangement of contacts, it does provide a safety factor which may be considered desirable.

We claim:

1. A sectional panel board composed of similar interchangeable units or sections having similar mounting and contact arrangements for receiving and connecting in circuit identical multiple fuse carriers, the contact arrangements of various units being different so that, though identical fuse carriers be used, different relations between the fuses of these carriers and the circuits they protect may be obtained merely by associating the carriers with the units and without specially adjusting the carriers or the units at the time that the carriers are associated with the units.

2. A sectional panel board composed of similar interchangeable units or sections having similar mounting and contact arrangements for receiving and connecting in circuit identical multiple fuse carriers, different units having the fuse engaging contacts thereof connected to the circuits to be controlled thereby in different manners so that, though identical fuse carriers be used, different relations between the fuses of these carriers and the circuits they protect may be obtained merely by associating the carriers with the units and without specially adjusting the carriers or the units at the time that the carriers are associated with the units.

3. A sectional panel board composed of similar interchangeable units or sections having similar mounting and contact arrangements for receiving and connecting in circuit identical multiple fuse carriers, one unit having the fuse engaging contacts thereof arranged in a pair and connected in series with the line to be fused, one unit having the fuse engaging contacts thereof arranged in a plurality of pairs, with the several pairs arranged for receiving individually the fuses of a carrier, and with the several pairs being connected in multiple with the line to be fused so that, though identical fuse carriers be used, different relations between the fuses of these carriers and the circuits they protect may be obtained merely by associating the carriers with the units and without specially adjusting the carriers or the units at the time that the carriers are associated with the units.

4. A sectional panel board composed of similar interchangeable units or sections having similar mounting and contact arrangements for receiving and connecting in circuit identical multiple fuse carriers, one unit having the fuse engaging contacts thereof arranged in a pair and connected in series with the line to be fused, one unit having the fuse engaging contacts thereof arranged in a plurality of pairs, with the several pairs arranged for receiving individually the fuses of a carrier, and with the several pairs being connected in series with the line to be fused so that, though identical fuse carriers be used, different relations between the fuses of these carriers and the circuits they protect may be obtained merely by associating the carriers with the units and without specially adjusting the carriers or the units at the time that the carriers are associated with the units.

5. A sectional panel board composed of similar interchangeable units or sections having similar mounting and contact arrangements for receiving and connecting in circuit identical multiple fuse carriers, one unit having the fuse engaging contacts thereof arranged in a plurality of pairs, with the several pairs arranged for receiving individually the fuses of a carrier, and with the several pairs being connected in series with the line to be fused, one unit having the fuse engaging contacts thereof arranged in a plurality of pairs, with the several pairs arrangedfor receiving individually the fuses of a carrier, and with the several pairs being connected in multiple with the line to be fused so that, though identical fuse carriers be used, different relations between the fuses of these carriers and the circuits they protect may be obtained merely by associating the carriers with the units and without specially adjusting the carriers or the units at the time that the carriers are associated with the units.

6. A sectional panel board composed of similar interchangeable units or sections having similar mounting and contact arrangements for receiving and connecting in circuit identical multiple fuse carriers, one unit having the fuse engaging contacts thereof arranged in a pair and connected in series with the line to be fused, one unit having the fuse engaging contacts thereof arranged in a plurality of pairs, with the several pairs arranged for receiving individually the fuses of a carrier, and with the several pairs being connected in series with the line to be fused, one unit having the fuse engaging contacts thereof arranged in a pair and connected in series with the line to be fused, one unit having the fuse engaging contacts thereof arranged in a plurality of pairs, with the several pairs arranged for receiving individually the fuses of a carrier, and with the several pairs being connected in multiple with the line to be fused so that, though identical fuse carriers be used, different relations between the fuses of these carriers and the circuits they protect may be obtained merely by associating the carriers with the units and without specially adjusting the carriers or the units at the time that the carriers are associated with the units.

WILLIAM H. FRANK. JOSEPH A. MESSING. HARRISON J. L. FRANK. 

